When Gerald Ellis planted vines on his Derwent Valley sheep farm in 1976, the cynics said southern Tasmania was too wild, too cold, too far from anywhere that mattered. Nearly five decades on, Meadowbank has long since answered that verdict, and then some. Tasmania's cool-climate credentials are now some of the most coveted in Australian wine, and the Ellis family, farming this fortuitous stretch of sand and sandstone about an hour north of Hobart, sit firmly at the front of that conversation. They even have the ultimate peer endorsement of a Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy on the mantle to show for it! Vintage 2025 was notable in its moderate temperature — a condition that is beginning to feel characteristic of this site. Despite increased yields across much of Tasmania, Meadowbank bucked the trend, producing a balanced crop of exceptional fruit. The results are everything you'd expect from this address: chiselled, focused, and alive with cool-climate tension. Two bottles that reward a proper glass and a bit of patience — or none at all.